


A conversation

by belmanoir



Series: Twenty Dates [4]
Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Kayfabe Compliant, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-22 07:26:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11962575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belmanoir/pseuds/belmanoir
Summary: After his match with Seth, Roman finally feels as if he can approach Finn after his return from injury.(Set between stories 2 and 3.)





	A conversation

**Author's Note:**

> Chronologically, this falls BETWEEN parts 2 and 3. I wrote it after the 5/29/17 episode of Raw, which is also when it's set. If you'll remember, in that episode Finn had a triple threat with Bray Wyatt and Samoa Joe. Roman wrestled Seth, and Seth's "I own Roman Reigns" promo before the match put the final nail in the coffin of their tentative re-alliance. 
> 
> I didn't post it at the time. It can't stand on its own--it's THIS Finn and Roman--but it didn't quite fit in the "Twenty Dates" series either, since part 2 ignores Finn's injury at Summerslam. Since I've now officially entered a weird alternate timeline (where Finn, I guess, got injured by Seth some time shortly after Summerslam instead of at the PPV itself?), I figured I'd share it, to help bridge the gap between stories 2 and 3.

Heading towards the back to shower, Roman sees Finn sitting on a bench, rubbing at his shoulder and wincing. He’s wearing a Star Wars T-shirt with his namesake on it. Roman smiles, then winces. His jaw is sore as hell. But to his own surprise, he finds himself walking over to Finn. He’d never have dared to do it yesterday. 

“You want to get a drink?” Finn’s sure to say no. He said no in pretty uncertain terms when he first got back.

Finn looks up at him, considering.

“Or if you want to come back to my room, I’ll help you ice your back.” It’s hard to do yourself, especially if your shoulders are also sore.

“Is that a euphemism?”

Roman laughs. “Only if you want it to be.”

Finn’s mouth twists. He’s silent for...it feels like a long time. Maybe it isn’t. “How are you?” 

Roman’s eyes almost fill at the consideration. He feels a sharp pang of mortification that he let himself get to a place where _How are you?_ is so unexpected.

 _I own Roman Reigns._ Roman can’t blame Seth for thinking it. It just isn’t true.

He sits down next to Finn. “Thanks for asking. I should have called while you were out. I guess I figured...I gave up that right.” He gave up so many rights, for what? What’s wrong with him? “I should have done it anyway. I’m sorry.”

Finn eyes him candidly. “I do understand, you know. You...” He laughs. “Well, I can’t say I understand your taste. Look, I’m not angry. I just don’t trust you. I might never. But then again I might. If you want to give it a go, I’m game.”

It sounds so simple when he says it. Why couldn’t Roman have said that to Seth, instead of nothing? Hours and hours of nothing, feeling grateful for the sound of Seth’s voice. 

If he’d said it, would things have been different?

He’d been so sure that if he said it, Seth would leave.

Roman nods his head. “I’d like that,” he says roughly.

Finn smiles at him. It’s probably a complicated smile on the inside, because Finn is complicated, but it looks simple on the outside. Wholehearted. “You missed a lot of episodes of Adventure Time.”

Roman’s been so sure all this time that if he’d done something different, it would never have happened. Any of it. If he’d taken more responsibility for leadership in the Shield, if he’d paid more attention to Seth, if he hadn’t bickered so much with Ambrose. Now he thinks, _Is there something Seth could have done to make me sell him out?_

No. Nothing. 

So maybe there’s nothing Roman could have done to save Seth.

 _Seth doesn’t deserve me,_ he thinks suddenly. It’s half shame that he gave himself to Seth anyway, but it’s half lightness. Half pure Bridget-Jones ice-cream-and-TV post-break-up empowerment.

“I’ll just have to catch up,” he says.

Finn’s smile widens—and then falters. “Shouldn’t you...I dunno, go talk to Ambrose?”

There’s a shooting pain in Roman’s jaw again. Oops. He clenched his jaw nervously. “Yeah,” he says honestly. Of all the rights he gave up, he misses that one the most. Dean is here. Somewhere in this building. When he tries to remember how it felt to like himself, he sees Dean, his halo of bright hair and crazy grin. The way he used to look at Roman.

Who’s the best man in the Shield? They can fight it out all day in the ring. Roman’s money is still on himself, but there could always be an upset. But Dean is the best _man_ , hands down. Roman doesn’t deserve that look anymore.

He won’t get it, either. Not tonight. He can’t quite stand Dean’s wariness right now.

He knows what to say to Dean, though, he realizes. _I know you don’t trust me anymore. Maybe you won’t ever. But if you might, I’m willing to give it a go._ He can say that. He can wait patiently for Dean to be ready.

“I’ll talk to Dean later,” he says. “I swear. But tonight I want the ice-pack Adventure Time marathon.”

“Careful what you wish for,” Finn warns, eyes gleaming.

Doesn’t Roman know it.


End file.
